


Tonight Belongs to Them

by Adohug



Series: Dance With Us 2020 [7]
Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: :), Other, Others are mentioned but they do not appear, it might hurt, this is barry-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:21:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27992919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adohug/pseuds/Adohug
Summary: He wants to slap himself for that thought.Well… at least he’s now conscious of his narcissism?… That’s not better.
Series: Dance With Us 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040061
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17
Collections: Dance With Us Week 2020





	Tonight Belongs to Them

**Author's Note:**

> And here's the last fic for Dance With Us week! I hope it's been enjoyable to read everything, and I cannot wait to watch the movie!!
> 
> Here's Day 7: Free Day! - self explanatory

Barry Glickman would never call himself an alcoholic, but tonight? He needs a drink.

Emma has just sprinted out of the gymnasium dressed up in a poor excuse for a party, and his first thought for some _damned_ reason was “She better not ruin my dress.”

He wants to slap himself for that thought.

Well… at least he’s now conscious of his narcissism?

… That’s not better.

He should have known. He should have _known_ that such a close-minded town would pull something. They’re being led by a devil-woman incarnate, of _course_ they’d loophole the legal situation and get what they wanted anyways. Instead, he got Emma’s hopes up for nothing. 

He’s the _elder_ gay, dammit! He shouldn’t be the one hurting her! That’s everyone else’s job.

He _actually_ slaps himself for that. Bad Barry! 

“Barry,” someone says. He looks over to see Trent, eyes worried. “Angie went after her. Should we--”

“Why does it matter?” Dee Dee snaps, earning a glare from Tom. “We didn’t get our publicity, we didn’t help her, we didn’t do _anything_ we came to do. Why should we--”

“Dammit, Dee Dee, _it’s not about you!_ ” Barry surprises everyone, even himself, with his outburst. “From the moment we stepped off of that bus it stopped being about _us_. We might have come here for another reason, but it’s bigger than we thought it was. So why don’t you pull your _head_ out of the spotlight for one _God_ -damned minute and _care_!”

If Barry hadn’t known Dee Dee for all these years, he would have missed the hurt in her eyes. Maybe she needed a slap to the morals before she could take this problem seriously, since it was much less personal for her than it was for him. The hurt passes after a moment, however, and Dee Dee turns to Tom as if she expects him to stand up for her. He stares at Dee Dee, eyes unreadable, before turning and leaving the gymnasium. 

“Tom--” She stops, whipping around back to Barry. “I’m talking to you in the morning. _Tom!_ ” With that, she runs out of the room too.

Barry sighs, any anger leaving with Dee Dee as the door swing closed. “What are we going to do?”

“Well, if I learned anything at--” He stops, for once in his life choosing to read the room and not mention his alma mater. “I know that ice cream is a good first step. Do you think they have anything fancy in their K-Mart?”

“It’s eight o’clock on a Saturday night, Trent. No respectable place is open right now.” Barry pauses. “I think that’s a good first step, though. We can stop somewhere in the morning and get some ice cream for her when we go to check in.”

“Why in the morning?”

Barry looks around the gym, taking in the stale chips and duct-taped balloons. “Angie works best alone; we’ll do more harm than good with Emma right now. Besides, if we want to _actually_ help -- not just pretend, like we have been -- I think a good first step is to clean up some of this shit.”

With no other words, the two men start to clean. After a while of working in silence, trent speaks up. “Do you think the kids are at fault here?”

“What?” Barry pauses in his deconstruction of a table to see a Trent’s thinking face. “Like, the other high schoolers? I mean, they’re just _kids_ , they probably don’t know how much something like this hurts. If anything, it’s the parents’ fault for refusing to accept that times change.” And suddenly, he’s not sure if he’s still talking about Edgewater.

Trent nods. “Right…” with that, he gets back to work, and so does Barry.

This isn’t the only mess they have to clean up, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Barry using Dee Dee's words against her >>>>


End file.
